Polymer compounding of graphene and related materials for advanced composite manufacturing

热塑性聚合物和复合材料可能是上个世纪最伟大的材料发现之一，而3D打印正在成为本世纪最重大的制造发现。它们结合在一起，使从包装到汽车再到飞机，甚至是空间技术的不同产品的能力都实现了显著的技术进步。这些技术的持续研究和进步将在未来几年对社会的几乎所有领域产生影响。热塑性复合材料和3D打印的最新研究紧随着层状和二维材料的发现，如石墨烯。石墨烯是单层石墨，它是一个单原子厚的碳原子排列在六角形晶格中。由于其优异的机械、电学、热学和光学等特性，它在研究界和工业界引起了极大的兴趣。它在复合材料领域的应用已经使制造更轻、更坚固的导电材料成为可能，能够在许多高性能系统中取代金属和目前使用的复合材料。虽然石墨烯已经在这些领域展示了它的潜力，但研究努力现在的目标是将这些技术从实验室转移到制造厂。这不仅包括大规模生产可用于复合的石墨烯材料，还包括将其并入和整合到聚合物和现有体系中的技术和工业规模的过程。该项目将通过研究石墨烯和层状材料及其热塑性复合材料的放大生产技术，特别是添加剂制造技术，来解决这些问题的每一个层面。考虑到这些目标，该项目正在研究使用环境友好的工艺扩大石墨烯生产的规模，例如通过使用高压均质技术在水中石墨烯的液相剥离。这项技术每年为复合材料提供吨级的高质量石墨烯的大规模生产。用紫外可见光谱、拉曼光谱、原子力显微镜和扫描电子显微镜对所得材料进行了表征。接下来，生产的材料通过几种可用的工艺结合到聚合物中，例如挤出以生产颗粒或3D打印长丝，或者通过在高压均质机中与粉末聚合物进行高剪切结合。使用热重分析、差示扫描量热仪和激光闪光分析来分析所得到的复合材料的热性能，同时使用拉伸测试来进行机械表征。将这些技术推向工业的最后一步需要展示制造技术。然后对复合材料进行模压成型、3D打印和注塑成型，展示了石墨烯材料从材料合成到最终器件制造的可行路线。

Thermoplastic polymers and composites were perhaps one of the greatest material discoveries of the past century, while 3d printing is becoming the most significant manufacturing discovery of this century. Combined, they have enabled significant technological advancement in the capabilities of different products ranging from packaging to automotive to planes, and even space technology. The continued research and advancement of these technologies will impact nearly all areas of society in coming years. The most recent research into thermoplastic composites and 3d printing has come on the heels of the discovery of layered and 2-dimensional materials, such as graphene. Graphene is single sheet of graphite, which is a single atom thick with carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice. It has garnered excitement in the research and industrial community due to its outstanding mechanical, electrical, thermal, and optical properties, among others. It's application in the field of composites has already enabled the fabrication of lighter, stronger, conductive materials, capable of replacing metals and currently used composites in many high-performance systems. While graphene has shown its potential in these fields, research efforts are now aimed at moving these technologies from 'lab to fab'. This included not only the mass production of composite-ready graphene materials, but the techniques and industrial scale processes for their incorporation and integration into polymers and existing systems. This project will address each level of these considerations by investigating scale-up production techniques of graphene and layered materials and their thermoplastic composites with particular care for additive manufacturing techniques.Considering these aims, this project is investigating the scale up of graphene production using environmentally friendly processes, such as the liquid phase exfoliation of graphene in water through the use of high-pressure homogenization. This technique provides large scale production of high-quality graphene for use in composites at the ton-scale per year. The resulting material is characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. Next, the produced materials are incorporated into polymers through several available processes, such as extrusion to produce pellets or 3d printing filaments, or through high shear incorporation in the high-pressure homogenizer with powdered polymers. The resulting composites are analysed using thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, and laser flash analysis for the thermal properties, while tensile testing is used for mechanical characterization. The final step in moving these technologies to industry requires the demonstration of fabrication techniques. The composite materials are then compression molded, 3d printed, and injection molded, demonstrating the viable routes to industry for graphene-based materials from material synthesis to final device fabrication.